Son stole £6,000 from dad's safe and then blew it on gifts for girls

Blue Marriott took the cash when his family were away and planned to buy a flat with a friend.

But Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court heard the 21-year-old instead splashed the cash on women.

Robert Ashworth, for Marriott, said ‘he can be influenced by others’ and his ‘wider family aren’t terribly impressed with him’ over the theft.

Marriott, of Crofton Road, Milton, still lives with his mum and had also spent £94.98 on food and drink after taking her bank card.

He admitted a charge of theft and of fraud by false representation between October 10 and 18.

Sentencing, magistrate David Hampshire said: ‘This was an abuse of trust of your mother and father, a very high sum.

‘You should be grateful to them for not seeking compensation from you.

‘I hope you remember that and make your compensation in your own way.’

Marriott, who has no previous convictions, must complete a 12-month community order, 200 hours of unpaid work, and 10 rehabilitation activity requirement days.

He must pay £85 prosecution costs and an £85 victim surcharge.

Graham Heath, prosecuting, said Marriott told police he was ‘looking at some pictures’ in his dad’s office when he noticed the safe.

‘He said he was hanging around with the wrong people at that time,’ Mr Heath said. He wanted to buy a flat with his friend but ended up spending it on phones, clothes, watches and shoes for other girls.

‘He blames the girls for spending the money.’

Marriott lives with his mother as his parents are separated and he is not allowed to live alone in either home when a parent is away, the court heard.

But he went into his dad’s home without permission when he took the cash in a ‘breach of trust’, the court heard.

Mitigating, Mr Ashworth said a probation report found he ‘lacks proper consequential thinking’ and ‘acted impulsively’.

He added: ‘He simply didn’t think of the consequences of his actions.

‘He was providing things for other people rather than himself.’